Double Basquiat, 2024
Silver gelatin print
Approximately 54 in. x 73 in. / 137.1 cm. x 185.4 cm.
From an edition of two unique prints

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Christopher Makos grew up in California and went on to study architecture in Paris before briefly working as an apprentice for the famed Surrealist photographer Man Ray. His photographs have been exhibited in more than 100 museums and galleries, including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Tate Modern in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the IVAM in Valencia, Spain, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Makos became a prominent figure in the New York downtown art scene where he befriended and created raw, indelible portraits of the likes of Roy Lichtenstein, Salvador Dalí, Halston, Patti Smith, Mick Jagger, and Andy Warhol. Many of Makos’s seminal photobooks feature Warhol: Warhol/Makos In Context, Andy Warhol China 1982, and Warhol: A Photographic Memoir, which chronicles his close friendship and extensive travels with the artist.

With an incredible eye for emerging artists, Makos is responsible for introducing the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring to Andy Warhol.

Makos photographed Basquiat frequently and produced stunning portraits of the artist. But the photographer has also reinterpreted older prints of the subject, sometimes with a mixed-media approach or as a collage. For example, this double portrait of Basquiat plays off Makos’s iconic photo from 1984, Basquiat with Africa on His Shoulder.

Said Makos: “Basquiat was a very interesting, soft-spoken, young African-American artist. The picture that I have of Basquiat holding the globe: it’s no accident that he’s holding Africa in the picture because in many ways, he felt like he was the token black artist. He understood that he was the black artist that everybody wanted but he wasn’t sure if they wanted him or his work.”

Courtesy of Christopher Makos (makostudio.com; @christophermakos)

---

Shipping costs, storage fees, and all applicable taxes are the responsibility of the successful bidder. amfAR will accept cryptocurrency for the hammer price of all auction lots. Further auction terms and conditions can be found here.